18 teacher’s guide the life of langston hughes · lesson 18 teacher’s guide the life of...
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L E S S O N 1 8 T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E
The Life of Langston Hughesby Elizabeth Jaffe
Fountas-Pinnell Level PBiographySelection SummaryThis biography tells the life story of one of the great American poets of the twentieth century, Langston Hughes. The detailed narrative focuses on key events in Hughes’ career, from his childhood interest in writing to his success as a poet and teacher.
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
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Characteristics of the Text Genre • Biography
Text Structure • Organized chronologically• Third-person factual narrative
Content • Hughes’ childhood and early interest in poetry• Infl uence of Harlem on Hughes’ life and work• Hughes’ travels to Africa and international fame
Themes and Ideas • Expressing feelings through writing is at the core of the writing process.• Writing about one’s heritage is often an important theme for writers.• Racial prejudice had a profound impact on Hughes’s life and work.
Language and Literary Features
• Figurative language (books were his only friends)• Exclamations to convey interest and excitement (His career as a writer had begun!)• Dashes to set off information (he was named class poet — again!)
Sentence Complexity • Mix of simple, compound, and complex sentences• Words used in a series (He visited the Soviet Union, Japan, and Haiti…)
Vocabulary • Place names (United States, Canada, Harlem, Africa, Mississippi River)• Names of people essential to events (Mary Langston, John Mercer, Vachel Lindsay)
Words • Understanding of words dependent on context clues (“Harlem’s Poet”)• Some challenging, multisyllabic words (excellent, universities, opportunity)
Illustrations • Many black and white, historical photographs closely linked to text• Map to extend understanding of content
Book and Print Features
• Table of Contents
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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Expand Your Vocabulary
blues – popular music with elements of African-American folk music, p. 13
congressman – a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, p. 6
earthquake – a shaking of a portion of the earth, p. 5
heritage – one’s background, p. 6
jazz – American music marked by lively rhythms p. 11
published – printed, p. 13
The Life of Langston Hughes by Elizabeth Jaffe
Build BackgroundHelp children use their knowledge of poetry to understand this biography. Build interest by asking questions such as the following: What do you like about poetry? Have you ever written a poem? What was it about? Read the title and author and talk about the cover photograph. Tell children that this book is a biography because it tells about the life of a real person.
Introduce the TextGuide children through the text, noting important ideas and helping with unfamiliar language and vocabulary so that they can read the text successfully. Here are some suggestions:
Pages 2–3: Explain that this book tells about the life of a famous American poet named Langston Hughes.Suggested language: On page 2 you can see a Table of Contents which lists the names and page numbers of the different sections of this book. Look at the stamp on page 3. What does it tell you about Langston Hughes?
Page 6: Draw attention to the section heading and the photo of his grandmother. When he was young, Hughes lived with his grandmother. She wouldn’t let him play outside so books became his only friends. Do you think that books can be friends? Why or why not?
Pages 10–11: Point to the section heading and the caption and explain where Harlem is. In Harlem, Hughes listened to a lot of jazz music. His poems sounded like jazz. How can poems sound like music?
Pages 12–13: Explain that after leaving New York city, Hughes traveled to West Africa. Let’s trace his route from New York to West Africa on the map. During his travels, Hughes wrote poems and articles and tried to get them published in magazines in the United States.
Now turn back to the beginning of the book and read to fi nd out how Langston Hughes became a world-famous poet.
2 Lesson 18: The Life of Langston HughesGrade 2© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
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ReadHave children read The Life of Langston Hughes silently while you listen to individual children read. Support their problem solving and fl uency as needed.
Remind children to use the Analyze/Evaluate Strategy and to tell how they feel about the book as they read and why.
Discuss and Revisit the TextPersonal ResponseInvite children to share their personal responses to the book. Suggested language: What event in Langston Hughes’ life did you enjoy reading about the most? Why?
Ways of ThinkingAs you discuss the text, help children understand these points:
Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text
• Langston Hughes began writing poetry as a young boy.
• Langston Hughes wrote and traveled all over the world.
• Langston Hughes wrote many famous poems.
• Langston Hughes taught poetry at universities.
• Writers connect with the world around them through their writing.
• One way of expressing your pride in your heritage is to write about it.
• The author’s attitude towards her subject is that Hughes deserved his status as a world famous writer and poet.
• Historical photographs help readers better understand events that took place long ago.
• A table of contents makes it easier to fi nd information.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Further Support• Fluency Invite children to choose a passage from the text to read aloud in small groups.
Encourage them to group words into phrases that refl ect the meaning of the text.
• Comprehension Based on your observations of the children’s reading and discussion, revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind children to go back to the text to support their ideas.
• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using examples from the text. Remind children that longer words are sometimes formed from shorter, familiar words. For example, the word congressman on page 6 is a compound word that combines the words congress and man. Understanding the meaning of the shorter words in a compound can help with the meaning of the longer word. Repeat with the words newspapers (p. 6); earthquake (p. 5).
3 Lesson 18: The Life of Langston HughesGrade 2© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
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Writing about ReadingCritical ThinkingHave children complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 18.9.
RespondingHave children complete the activities at the back of the book. Use the instruction below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.
Target Comprehension SkillUnderstanding Characters
Target Comprehension Skill Remind children that they can use details in
a book to help them learn more about a person in a book. Model the skill, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:
Think Aloud
To learn more about Langston Hughes, I’m going to pay close attention to the details I read in this book. On page 7, I noticed an important detail – he started writing poems for his school magazine. This detail helps me understand that he loved poetry as a child.
Practice the SkillHave children fi nd another detail in the book that tells them something important about Langston Hughes as a young person.
Writing Prompt: Thinking About the TextHave children write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they think about the text they are reading, they think about how the author presents the information and what words and pictures the author uses.
Assessment Prompts• What does the word career mean in this sentence on page 7: His career as a writer had
begun!
• What is the author’s purpose for writing this book?
4 Lesson 18: The Life of Langston HughesGrade 2© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
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15
Responding TARGET SKILL Understanding
People How would you describe people in
this book? Copy the chart. Write the names
of people from the book. Describe something
about each person. List a detail from the
story that supports your description.
Text to World Write a descriptive
paragraph about a trip. Include where you
went, who you went with, and what you
saw.
Write About It
Character Description Detail
Langston Hughes?
hard-working?
did not give up writing poetry?
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Read directions to children.
Think About ItRead and answer the questions.
1.WhydidLangstonHugheswanttogotocollege?
He wanted to become a writer.
2.LangstonHughesmovedaroundalotwhenhewas
young.Whateffectdoyouthinkithadonhim?
Possible response: He learned about different places and
people.
3.HowwouldyoudescribeLangstonHughes?
Possible response: He was talented, determined, and proud
of who he was.
Making Connections Langston Hughes used poetry to express his feelings. How do you like to express your feelings?
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Name Date
Grade 2, Unit 4: Heroes and Helpers
11
Lesson 18B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 8 . 9
The Life of Langston Hughes
Think About It
Think About It© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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English Language DevelopmentReading Support Have children talk with a partner about the chronology of events in Hughes’ life before sharing that timeline of events with the group.
Cultural Support Explain that Harlem is a part of New York City where many important African-American writers and musicians lived in the early 20th century.
Oral Language DevelopmentCheck children’s comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches their English profi ciency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the child.
Beginning/Early Intermediate Intermediate Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: Who is this book about?
Speaker 2: Langston Hughes
Speaker 1: What did Langston Hughes do?
Speaker 2: wrote poetry
Speaker 1: Why did Langston Hughes love to read so much as a child?
Speaker 2: He was lonely.
Speaker 1: How did listening to jazz music affect the poems he wrote?
Speaker 2: The poems sounded like jazz.
Speaker 1: Why was traveling all over the world important to Langston Hughes?
Speaker 2: He could meet new people and share his poetry with them.
5 Lesson 18: The Life of Langston HughesGrade 2© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
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Name Date
The Life of Langston HughesThinking About the Text
Think about the question below. Then write a paragraph to answer it.
This book is full of photos from long ago. How did these pictures help you understand more about the life of Langston Hughes and the world he lived in? Use details from the book in your answer.
6 Lesson 18: The Life of Langston HughesGrade 2© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
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Think About ItRead and answer the questions.
1. Why did Langston Hughes want to go to college?
2. Langston Hughes moved around a lot when he was
young. What effect do you think it had on him?
3. How would you describe Langston Hughes?
Making Connections Langston Hughes used poetry to express his feelings. How do you like to express your feelings?
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Name Date Lesson 18
B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 8 . 9
The Life of Langston Hughes
Think About It
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1413629
Student Date Lesson 18
B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 8 . 1 3
Running Record Form
The Life of Langston Hughes • LEVEL P
The Life of Langston Hughes
Behavior Code Error
Read word correctly ✓cat 0
Repeated word, sentence, or phrase
®cat
0
Omission —cat 1
Behavior Code Error
Substitution cutcat 1
Self-corrects cut sccat 0
Insertion the
cat 1
Word told Tcat 1
page Selection Text Errors Self-Corrections
7
8
When Langston’s grandmother died, Langston
moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to live with his
mother again. He felt accepted at his new school.
Langston began to write poems for the school
magazine. In eighth grade, he was chosen to be
class poet. His career as a writer had begun!
In 1919, when he was 17, Langston spent the
summer with his father in Mexico. More and
more, he wrote poetry to express his feelings. He
wrote whenever he could.
Back in Cleveland, Langston was an excellent
student, an actor, a writer, and he played sports
too.
Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read
correctly/94 × 100)
%
Total Self- Corrections
8 Lesson 18: The Life of Langston HughesGrade 2© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
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